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Falling for Frome

Well, as it always does, it starts with flowers. But soon I find myself falling in love with Frome.

This small Somerset town has a mixed reputation; some good, some bad. On the plus side it has a thriving art's scene, interesting places to eat and a number of pretty cobbled streets that meander up from the centre of town. But Frome also has much poorer areas of social deprivation.

However it seems, despite the recession, Frome is on the up. And I am also on the up. Up the top of St Catherine's Hill visiting Grace Haskin's new shop, Bramble & Wild.

Who could fail to fall in love with Grace's shop, with it's pale blue door and its cool stone coloured interior?

Grace has been open for two weeks and is starting to feel settled in.

As I chat to her about her new venture several customers call in looking for small gifts and posies.

When Grace started Bramble & Wild she decided to move into Frome so she would be close by for the early morning starts and late night flower emergencies..."I have forgotten our anniversary...!"

It turns out Grace is a fan of Frome and she says more and more people are discovering its delights and relocating here.

"It is a lot cheaper than Bath, yet some parts have much the same architecture."

Grace finds it interesting that many of the business that are opening up on St Catherine's Hill have come from London. "It seems that in Somerset people still look down a bit on Frome, but that elsewhere people are beginning to realise how much it has to offer."

Grace has me convinced, as does the experience of wandering down St Catherine's Hill.

I do love a good haberdashers!

I can't really sew or quilt but there is something incredibly soothing about bundles of fabric and bowls of buttons.

And what a great name for a shop ... Millie Moon.

I may even have to make some bunting!

As I loiter trying to think of something easy to make that I would actually use, the staff are having great fun helping a customer put together a mask of ribbons and feathers for a forthcoming dance.

One last covetous glance at the buttons and it is on down the hill,

past inspiring clothes shops,

vintage emporiums

and shops that now make me want to take up knitting!

I can see I am going to have to come back to Frome.

5 comments:

Hi Sally, what a very nice post about Frome :-)I belong to those who have mixed feelings about this town, may be because I came to live in the West country during the last downturn and it just wasn't a nice place, but I must agree that Frome is trying!By the way, you can find something about yourself on my blog, I hope you will approve:-)

Frome is definitely one of my favourite places now, but back in the old days when we used to sell in the sheds at the "antique" market it was quite a different story- not a place that you would choose to visit for a good day out! (sorry Frome, please don't take that as a personal dig)

Hi Sally - thank's for posting about the shop! & for those of you wanting a great day out with lots of treasures to discover, well.. we don't have t-shirts saying 'the independent state of Frome' for nothing! xx

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Sally Page

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Those who know my flower shop series of books will appreciate how much I love to photograph and write about flowers, Here I will share with you some of the flowers I see on my travels. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do

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